American Express Platinum, 90,000 Delta SkyMiles, Elite Status, Lounge Access, $200 Credit
Over on the Flyertalk forums there is some buzz about two stackable promotions that can turn 50,000 American Express Membership Rewards points into 90,000 Delta SkyMiles and instant Silver elite status (25,000 elite qualifying miles). This is another nice promo for those that fly on Delta, making flying much more enjoyable. Here’s how it works:
First, there is this 30% bonus offer on transfers from AMEX points to Delta miles through 3/31/11. Then, there is a separate 50% bonus offer on first-time transfers from AMEX points to Delta miles through 5/31/11. In addition, if you 50,000 points or more, you’ll also receive 25,000 Medallion Qualification Miles (MQMs). This is enough to reach Silver Medallion status and get benefits like waived baggage fees, priority check-in, priority boarding, the ability to select exit row seats in economy class, and free upgrades to first class (based on availability). You’ll have elite status for both the rest of 2011 and all of 2012.
Many people have confirmed that these are stackable, meaning you can get both at the same time. (Update 2/2: Folks have reported that now Delta has changed the wording of the offers slightly so that they shouldn’t stack anymore. If so, you should at least try for the second 50% + elite status offer. 75k isn’t as good as 90k, but it may still be worth it.)
This coincides with the current promotion for the The Platinum Card® from American Express which is offering 25,000 bonus Membership Rewards points for spending $2,000 within 3 months. Thus, if you transfer 25,000 points using the offers above, you’d end up with another 40% extra = 45,000 Delta SkyMiles and Silver elite status. If you value miles at a penny per mile, 90,000 miles is worth $900.
The AMEX Platinum does have a hefty $450 annual fee. Essentially in exchange for $450 you’ll be getting 45,000 miles, elite status, first class lounge access, and also other perks like $200 annually to spend on airline incidentals like baggage fees, ticket fees, and inflight food and beverage. The first class lounge access is valid for you and two companions at American Airlines Admirals Club, Continental Presidents Club, Delta Sky Club, and US Airways Clubs. More details on the perks here.
Another tip is that with a Platinum card, you can get the 25,000 points upfront from the Membership Rewards website, getting the 25,000 miles earlier and without having to worry about promotion deadlines.
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By Jonathan Ping | Credit Cards, Deals & Offers | 1/31/11, 6:01am
January 31st, 2011 at 6:25 am
“You’ll have elite status for both the rest of 2010 and all of 2011.”
I take it you meant 2011 and 2012.
January 31st, 2011 at 8:02 am
Is this valid for the Amex Starwood points credit card?
January 31st, 2011 at 9:07 am
Any idea how long the 50,000 bonus Membership Rewards points offer will last?
January 31st, 2011 at 11:07 am
Make sure you check out Delta redemption options before you do this. There is a reason they call them Skypesos.
January 31st, 2011 at 11:54 am
This article was posted in Jan 2011 yet you have the line “You’ll have elite status for both the rest of 2010 and all of 2011.” Did you mean we can get elite status for the rest of 2011 and all of 2012? Or did you copy this content from elsewhere & overlook that sentence?
Thanks for the heads up on a great deal.
January 31st, 2011 at 11:56 am
@tru – You are correct, I’ll fix that.
@Jeremy – No, Membership Rewards points are different than Starwood points, although if you have enough you may be able to convert one to the other. The conversion rate probably won’t be very favorable though.
@Tan – I doubt it will last very long, it could end today (1/31) since it’s end-of-month or any day at all.
@frno – Agreed, Delta miles aren’t as good as some other miles for international business-class travel, but some of us live in Delta country and they’re still useful for free travel. You just gotta work at it.
January 31st, 2011 at 12:00 pm
@Jorey – Nope, you definitely get status for the rest of the year you achieve the 25,000 qualifying miles, and the entire year afterward. Same as if you actually flew all those miles. To be really specific, you also get elite status for January 2013 as well.
January 31st, 2011 at 4:57 pm
Both links in the 2nd paragraph are for the 30% deal.
Thank you for the heads up on this deal!
January 31st, 2011 at 4:58 pm
p.s. the other link is http://dmn.delta.com/offers/getmore/
January 31st, 2011 at 5:32 pm
@Adam – Oops! Thanks, fixed. BTW, your website looks like it got hacked.
January 31st, 2011 at 8:15 pm
Jonathan, how do you get the 50,000 rewards points upfront (before spending the $1,000)?
February 1st, 2011 at 10:54 am
Basically, after you get your card and log in to membershiprewards.com, if you try and buy something you don’t have enough points for, they’ll let you borrow the difference on credit. The “nicer” card you have, the more they’ll let you borrow. Your future points earned will then pay back that balance.
February 1st, 2011 at 4:51 pm
Note it has been reported that Delta has fixed it now so these 2 offers won’t stack. And I know this from personal experience
But you still get the 50% bonus and 75k miles is still a good deal for this card.
February 2nd, 2011 at 1:31 pm
This promotion has expired, but if you dig around the net you can find a working link to the card. I did, and I’m willing to spend $450 for 2 round-trip flights on delta, plus the $200 incedentals bonus and access to those cushy lounges. I’m doing a good amount of travelling this next year, so this is great. But I’ll probably cancel it a year from now. $450 is too much to spend just for a card.
February 2nd, 2011 at 1:32 pm
Whoops – and by promotion, I mean the 50k bonus miles for signing up and spending $1000 in 3 months.
February 2nd, 2011 at 2:25 pm
@DL – That’s a bummer if it’s true. The better promo is the 50% and elite status. I’ll add a note to the post.
@Matt – The link still works for me. You may need to clear your cookies or use the “Incognito” mode for Chrome, or Private Browsing mode for Firefox. Then try the link again.
February 3rd, 2011 at 10:30 am
Continental will stop accepting AMEX Platinum for their clubs on Sept 30th
February 26th, 2011 at 8:58 am
FYI: Just activated the card, and linked to my skymiles, however was unable to advance the 50,000 miles in order to transfer them to the skymiles account (as suggested elsewhere in this thread.) Called Amex rewards program. They said that you are not eligable to advance miles until you have been a member for 3 months. They said that the 50,000 miles will be available for transfer to skymiles once the first payment period closes and they receive payment for that first statement. Just something to keep in mind as the Delta deal ends May 31st.
March 4th, 2011 at 10:07 pm
Just tranferred 56000 of my Amex reward points, it went through and displayed my Delta account instanly like a minute including the MQM earned. Thought I had to wait for couple days for the transfer to go through, and after promotion 5/31 to receive my MQMs.
So from the 50% bonus, in total i got 84000 skymiles, and 25000 MQMs. Do it, great deal!
Thanks Jonathan!
April 13th, 2011 at 5:11 pm
@ Kevin: Do you have other AmEx cards? I, too, activated the Platinum card and on the MR site it allowed me to advance 60,000 miles. It transferred to Skymiles along w. the 30% bonus (I’d registered for @ Delta.)
90,000 miles posted instantly to my Delta Skymiles account.
October 15th, 2011 at 3:31 pm
I was Skymiles Silver (October 2011). Opened offer for Amex Platinum that read ‘exclusive offer for medallion members’. Applied online for card and approved in less than five minutes. Received card a week later on October 4.
Offer: first purchase 15k miles of which 5k are MQM’s, then purchase $1500 by end of calendar year and get 25k miles of which 10k are MQM’s, plus use card on Delta purchase (any amount) and get $100 statement credit.
Went to grocery store (Dillons/Krogers) and bought three $500 gift cards (I buy gas and groceries there anyway…should be used up in a month or so with my family.
Miles just posted (40k miles and 15k MQM’s) on October 12 as five transactions on same day. Unbelievable.
I bought a snack on a flight yesterday with the card and just cut it up. I am canceling card after paying off my $1500 gift card purchase next month. There is a $150 annual fee and with my soon to post $100 statement credit will be $50.
Well worth it. I am a Dave Ramsey follower and ‘bent the rules’ here, but was worth it in my opinion. I have no credit cards now (as before) and got my email from Delta already that I am Gold Medallion and I have 40k miles for 30 minutes of effort.
Very cool.
October 28th, 2011 at 12:06 pm
@drevis: looking everywhere for this deal but can’t find it…link please?
@drevis/jonathan/everyone else: what card is ur favorite for the frequent traveler?
November 21st, 2011 at 10:44 pm
@drevis is making his story up. Amex requires at least $15000 (thousand, not hundred) spent in a calendar year before they will credit 10K MQMs – this is for the Gold Delta Skymiles Amex. American Express is very careful about how/when they post MQM’s to accounts – this from my experience.
American express did recently offer a limited number of Delta Medallion members targeted promotions, but nothing as lavish as the one spoken of here. Nobody gets 15,000 MQMs for $50. Nobody.
I’m a Platinum Delta Medallion member with a Platinum Delta Amex. I fly a minimum of 2 segments per week at least 45 weeks each year.
November 27th, 2011 at 2:14 pm
Just saw this reply…the deal is exactly as I said. I do not know how to send you a link as it was an email to me as a silver member with a ‘special offer’ button, but here is the info on the confirmation page when I signed up (I kept in case they did not post). “Earn up to 40,000 bonus miles including 15,000 Medallion qualification miles, and $100 cash back.”
CCSG Platinum POID: U843:0001; OPEN POID: V095:0001; Direct Mail POID: U916:0001
If I kept the card (and I did not as I just took the 40k miles and 15k MQM’s) I have to spend $25,000 in a calendar year and I get 10,000 bonus miles and 10,000 MQM’s.
The posting to my skymiles account was a series of five transactions.
1) 10,000 bonus miles (10,000 total miles in the ‘Total Miles’ column)
2) 5,0000 bonus miles (5,000 total miles in the ‘Total Miles’ column and 5,000 miles in the ‘MQM earned’ column as well)
(3) 10,000 bonus miles (10,000 total miles in the ‘Total Miles’ column)
(4) 10,0000 bonus miles (10,000 total miles in the ‘Total Miles’ column and 10,000 miles in the ‘MQM earned’ column as well)
(5) 5,000 bonus miles (5,000 total miles in the ‘Total Miles’ column)
I also got 1,500 miles posted in the ‘miles’ column as a sixth transaction when my statement cycled.
The Description for call of the mileage postings are ‘SkyMiles Amex Cobrand Credit Card’.
The $100 credit cycled with my statement and I could see it online a few days after my Delta purchase.
Good luck and I hope this helps.
August 27th, 2012 at 9:55 pm
any idea when does the platinum card bonus mile promotion will come back?